Paris, Sept 23, 2013: OH, The Olympic team champion from Korea adds the World Cup Final title to his name following a very a successful World Cup season.
OH has been at the top of his game this season. Following victories at the Shanghai and Antalya World Cup stages, he was the top qualifier for this the Final. However, two lost matches in Wroclaw resulting in “only” a third place finish showed that he is not always invincible.
Today, his hardest match was in the first round. He faced local archer Gaël PREVOST, who had defeated him in the first round of the 2011 Final. The Olympic champion led by two points through most of the match, however the 19-year-old crowd favourite came back to 5-5 to force a shoot-off. After a 9 by OH, an 8 by PREVOST saved the Olympic champion, who took a break from the individual rounds to win the mixed team gold medal paired with YUN Ok Hee.
In the semi-finals OH met the great Brady ELLISON, the only man to have won two World Cup Finals in recurve. OH deprived ELLISON of a third gold medal match in a row, by dropping only three points over four sets.
In the gold medal match, OH met Medellin winner DAI Xiaoxiang in a rematch of last year’s Olympic semi-final, which he had won in a shoot-off (after that DAI went on to win the bronze medal). DAI already had the experience of the 2011 Final, where he won the silver medal. Today the 22-year-old Chinese archer qualified over Olympic team champion Mauro NESPOLI from Italy, and young Korean prodigy LEE Seungyun. Famous for scoring high when it counts most, DAI could win only one set today against the Olympic champion. OH won the match 7-3 to achieve his first World Cup Final gold medal.
The bronze medal match was the first duel between the experienced ELLISON and the young LEE, winner in Wroclaw. In the first round, 18-year-old LEE had qualified over Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD, the first Malaysian archer to compete in this event, before losing to DAI. Could LEE beat ELLISON, who we saw less often on the podium this year due to a broken hand at the beginning of the season? Their very tight match resulted in a shoot-off. Releasing a 10 after LEE’s 9, ELLISON won the bronze, his fourth World Cup Final medal in four participation, a record. —- World Archery Communication
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